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Google Bravely Blocks Apps From Scanning Your Other Apps

Andrew Orr ·

Google announced that it will stop Android apps from scanning the list of your other apps in Android 11. Why this behavior was accepted before is beyond me.

Google has another page that lists allowable use cases for Play Store apps querying your app list, including “device search, antivirus apps, file managers, and browsers.” The page adds that “apps that must discover any and all installed apps on the device, for awareness or interoperability purposes may have eligibility for the permission.”

Time to make a fake antivirus app which queries your list of apps to sell to other companies.

TMO Deals

Babbel Language Learning Lifetime Subscription (All 14 Languages): $199

Bryan Chaffin ·

We have a deal on Babbel language learning software, and it’s a lifetime subscription at that. Babbel lets you practice with 10-15 minute bite-sized lessons, and Babbel uses speech recognition technology to keep your pronunciation on point. And, it comes with 10,000 hours of online language education. That lifetime subscription is $199 through our deal, and it covers all 14 languages.

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Document Collaboration That Doesn’t Need the Cloud

Andrew Orr ·

Collabio Spaces is an interesting new office suite that allows for document collaboration without needing external servers. Unfortunately it requires a subscription, but could be a useful tool for sensitive documents.

The P2P software lets multiple people co-edit a document locally — from a mobile device or desktop computer — without A) the risk of uploading sensitive information to the cloud (i.e. as you must if you’re using a shared document function of a service like Google Docs); or B) the tedium of emailing a text to multiple recipients and then having to collate and resolve changes manually, once all the contributions trickle back.

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UBS Upgrades AAPL, Thinks Firm Will Make Big Impact in Electric Vehicle Market

Charlotte Henry ·

UBS analyst David Vogt upgraded AAPL to a Buy and raised the price target to US$142 from US$115, Yahoo Finance reported. This upgrade was in no small part based on the impact he thinks Apple can make in the electric vehicle market.

Our analysis of the auto market and Apple’s multi-year investment in the industry (self-driving car licenses and LiDAR patents) suggests to us Apple’s auto optionality is worth at least an incremental $14/share,” Vogt said in a research note to clients. “Apple’s current portfolio provides significant cash flow the company will likely utilize to enter the battery electric vehicle market.” Vogt says Apple can capture some of the battery electric vehicle (BEV) market given customer satisfaction is already high for the tech giant’s products. “We expect Apple’s platform strategy and market share in the global PC and smartphone markets should enable Apple to introduce a branded BEV and achieve a minimum 5% market share in the global BEV market,” he wrote. “Over the next ten years, we forecast the global automotive market will likely transition to almost 100% EV opening up a 90M unit market to new entrants with large installed bases of loyal satisfied customers like Apple.”

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Opera Browser Gets M1 Support For Mac and a Speed Boost

Charlotte Henry ·

Opera browser now has native support on M1 Macs, the company announced in a blog post on Thursday. The company also said it performs twice as fast on Apple Silicon devices.

Opera now natively supports the newest line of Apple M1 processors. With the transition from Intel to Apple Silicon chips, Apple is able to gain more control over the performance of Mac hardware and the software that runs on macOS. Like Apple, Opera’s goal is to make your online experience as smooth as possible. With this latest release, Opera runs 2 times faster compared to the previous version of our browser. This means faster access to your favorite websites, and quicker transition to Opera’s built-in features like WhatsApp, Telegram, Twitter and Instagram – all neatly packed into the sidebar… Speaking of speed, Opera now lets you set your own keyboard shortcuts to quickly access the Flow feature, which connects your computer browser with Opera on iOS and Android.

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Microsoft Shuts Down its Cortana App on Mobile

Andrew Orr ·

As of March 31, 2021, Microsoft’s Cortana app on iOS and Android will no longer be supported.

As of March 31, 2021, the Cortana content you created–such as reminders and lists–will no longer function in the Cortana mobile app, but can still be accessed through Cortana in Windows. Also, Cortana reminders, lists, and tasks are automatically synced to the Microsoft To Do app, which you can download to your phone for free.